Part 59 (1/2)

Mistaking _annex_ to signify _prefix_, this author teaches thus: ”ANNEX _if, though, unless, suppose, ad a _condition_, to each tense of the _Indicative and Potential modes_, to form the subjunctive; as, If thou lovest or love If he loves, or love Formerly it was customary to _omit the terminations_ in the second and third persons of the present tense of the Subjunctive enerally retained_, except when the ellipsis of _shall_ or _should_ is implied; as, If he obey, i e, if he _shall_, or _should_ obey”--_Weld's Graeneral_, the form of the verb in the Subjunctive, _is the same as that of the Indicative_; but an _elliptical forular, is used in the following instances: (1) _Future contingency_ is expressed by the _oo, for, if he _shall_ go Though he slay h he _should_ slay me (2) _Lest_ and _that_ annexed to a command are followed by the _elliptical form_ of the Subjunctive; as, Love not sleep [,] lest thou _co it, when futurity is denoted, requires the _elliptical form_; as, If he _do_ but _touch_ the hills, they shall smoke”--_Ib_, p 126 As for this scheme, errors and inconsistenciesthe subjunctive is false, and is plainly contradicted _by all that is true_ in the examples: ”_If thou love_,” or, ”_If he love_” contains not the form of the indicative Secondly, no terenerally”

omitted from, or retained in, the form of the subjunctive present; because that part of the mood, as commonly exhibited, is well known to be ht as well talk of suffixes for the imperative, ”_Love_ thou,” or ”_Do_ thou love” Thirdly, _shall_ or _should_ can never be really implied in the subjunctive present; because the supposed ellipsis, needless and unexae the tense, the”If he _shall_,” properly implies a condition of _future certainty_; ”If he _should_,” a supposition of _duty_: the true subjunctive suggests neither of these Fourthly, ”the ellipsis of _shall_, or _should_,” is most absurdly called above, ”the omission of the _Indicative terely supposed, that to omit what pertains to the _indicative_ or the _potential_ mood, will produce an ”elliptical form of _the Subjunctive_” Sixthly, such exa the auxiliary _do_ not inflected as in the indicative, disprove the whole theory

OBS 10--In J B Chandler's grammars, are taken nearly the same views of the ”Subjunctive or Conditional Mood,” that have just been noticed ”This mood,” we are told, ”is _only_ the indicative _or_ potential mood, with the word _if_ placed before the nominative case”--_Gram of_ 1821, p 48; _Gram of_ 1847, p 73 Yet, of even _this_, the author has said, in the former edition, ”It would, perhaps, be _better to abolish the use_ of the subjunctive mood entirely _Its use_ is a continual source of dispute ae 33 The suppositive verb _were_,--(as, ”_Were_ I a king,”--”If I _were_ a king,”--) which this author for _was_, is now, after six and twenty years, replaced in his own exarace it_, by falsely representing it as being only ”the indicative _plural_”

very grossly misapplied! See _Chandler's Common School Gram_, p 77

OBS 11--The _Imperative_ _ It is that brief fore upon others our clai to the relation of the parties We command inferiors; exhort equals; entreat superiors; permit ill;--and all by this same imperative form of the verb In answer to a request, the i ed imperatively by the indicative, future This form is particularly common in solemn prohibitions; as, ”Thou _shalt not kill_Thou _shalt not steal_”--_Exodus_, xx, 13 and 15 Of the ten coative, and all these are indicative in form The other two are in the imperative mood: ”_Remember_ the sabbath day to keep it holy _Honour_ thy father and thy ative: as, ”_Touch not; taste not; handle not_”--_Colossians_, ii, 21

TENSES

Tenses are those uish time There are six tenses; the _Present_, the _Imperfect_, the _Perfect_, the _Pluperfect_, the _First-future_, and the _Second-future_

The _Present tense_ is that which expresses what _now exists_, or _is taking_ place: as, ”I _hear_ a noise; so_”

The _Imperfect tense_ is that which expresses what _took place_, or _was occurring_, in time fully past: as, ”I _saw_ hi_”

The _Perfect tense_ is that which expresses what _has taken_ place, within some period of time not yet fully past: as, ”I _have seen_ hi _must have detained_ him”

The _Pluperfect tense_ is that which expresses what _had taken_ place, at some past time mentioned: as, ”I _had seen_ him, when I met you”

The _First-future tense_ is that which expresses what _will take_ place hereafter: as, ”I _shall see_ hiain, and I _will inform_ him”

The _Second-future tense_ is that which expresses what _will have taken_ place, at some future time mentioned: as, ”I _shall have seen_ him by tomorrow noon”

OBSERVATIONS

OBS 1--The teriven to those parts of the verb to which they are in this work applied; and though some of theht to be, it is thought inexpedient to change therammars, and even in the early editions of Murray, the three past tenses are called the _Preterimperfect, Preterperfect_, and _Preterpluperfect_ From these names, the term _Preter_, (which is fro _beside, beyond_, or _past_,) has been well dropped for the sake of brevity[233]

OBS 2--The distinctive epithet _Imperfect_, or _Preterimperfect_, appears to have been e, than it was by the Latin grammarians from whom it was borrowed

That tense which passes in our schools for the _I_,) is in fact, so far as the indicative mood is concerned, _more completely past_, than that which we call the _Perfect_ Murray indeed has atteht; and, for the sake of consistency, one could wish he had succeeded But every scholar must observe, that the simple preterit, which is the first form of this tense, and is never found in any other, as often as the sentence is declarative, tells what _happened_ within some period of time _fully past_, as _last week, last year_; whereas the perfect tense is used to express what _has happened_ within some period of time _not yet fully past_, as _this week, this year_ As to the completeness of the action, there is no difference; for what _has been done_ to-day, is as _coo Hence it is obvious that the terlish tense so called, than what it _, which we use in translating the Latin ieba_ And if for this reason the whole English tense, with all its variety of forms in the different moods, ”may, with propriety, be denominated _imperfect_;” surely, the participle itself should be so denominated _a fortiori_: for it always conveys this same idea, of ”_action not finished_,” be the tense of its acco auxiliary what it may

OBS 3--The tenses do not all express tiuage supersede the necessity of adverbs of time, much less of dates, and of nouns that express periods of duration

The tenses of the indicative mood, are the most definite; and, for this reason, as well as for some others, the explanations of all these modifications of the verb, are made with particular reference to that mood

So_, to be more definite in time, than the simple form, as _I write_, or the ely they divide all the tenses into _Indefinite_ and _Definite_ Of this division Dr Webster seeravely accuses Murray of copying it unjustly froes in a note upon his text, it ”is, _in part_, taken from Webster's Grammar”--_Murray's Octavo Gram_, p 73 The distribution, as it stands in either work, is not worth quarrelling about: it is evidently more cumbersome than useful Nor, after all, is it true that the compound form is more definite in time than the other For exa_ his unhappiness”--_Art of Thinking_, p 123 Now, if _was betraying_ were a more definite tense than _betrayed_, surely the adverb ”_always_” would require the latter, rather than the former

OBS 4--The present tense, of the indicative eneral truths, and customary actions: as, ”Vice _produces_ ives_ sentence quickly”--_Grant's Lat Graiven_ by the drum, and not by the trumpet”--_Justin_ Deceased authors may be spoken of in the present tense, because they seem to live in their works; as, ”Seneca _reasons_ and _moralizes_ well”--_Murray_

”Women _talk_ better than ues: an ancient writer _speaks_ of their loquacity three thousand years ago”--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p 27

OBS 5--The text, John, viii, 58, ”Before Abraham _was_, I _am_,” is a literal Grecislish: our idiom would seem to require, ”Before Abraham _was_, I _existed_” In animated narrative, however, the present tense is often substituted for the past, by the figure _enallage_ In such cases, past tenses and present ether; because the latter are usedpast eventswhere he _was_”--_Pope_ ”The dictator _flies_ forward to the cavalry, beseeching them to dismount from their horses They _obeyed_; they _dismount, rush_ onward, and for vancouriers _show_ their bucklers”--_Livy_ On this principle, perhaps, the following couplet, which Murray condelish, may be justified:--

”Hi who _labour_, and the old who _rest_”